Exclusive: Man due to face trial over toddler’s fatal injuries is found dead

Holly Patel

A Luton man accused of causing the death of a toddler has been found dead, the Herald & Post can exclusively reveal.

Alistair Wayne Bowen, 35, was found dead at his home on Drayton Road on Saturday and police are not treating the incident as suspicious.

He was set to appear at Guildford Crown Court tomorrow charged with causing or allowing the death of his former partner’s one-year-old girl in Surrey.

A file on Bowen has been handed over to the Luton and Beds Coroner Service and the Herald & Post understands that a post mortem will be carried out in the coming days.

Bowen’s cause of death is not yet known.

A Beds Police spokesperson said: “At 4.58pm on Saturday (11 July) Bedfordshire Police was called to an address at Drayton Road, Luton, where officers found the body of a man in his mid-thirties.

“The death is not being treated as suspicious, the coroner has been informed and an inquest will be opened and adjourned in due course.”

Surrey Police began probing Bowen and his former partner Kirsty Lee after officers were alerted by staff at St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey, where Miss Lee’s daughter Cara Lee-Fanus was admitted with serious injuries on Wednesday May 28 2014.

She was later transferred to St George’s Hospital in Tooting but died the following day.

A post-mortem established the cause of death as a head injury.

Detectives from Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team launched a murder investigation.

Miss Lee, 25, of Grove Close, Windsor, and Bowen appeared at Guildford Magistrates Court in April, jointly charged with causing or allowing the death of a child or causing or allowing serious physical harm to a child.

At the time Bowen was granted bail on the condition that he did not contact Miss Lee, go within one mile of Heathrow Airport or enter Surrey except for his court appearances.

He was also barred from having unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18.